Focus, persistence, and aggression. They’ve got to want the ball and they’ve got to go after it, even as they are being bounced around. They need to have single minded purpose. And if they stand around complaining about no whistle being blown, they're going to lose out on that rebound or that second shot, so they're better off just being tough.

That’s the skills set that successful rebounders need to have; here’s a few drills to help you teach them how to develop that skill set.

This set of basketball rebounding drills focuses on how to get to the rebound and how to bring it down aggressively; how to outlet the ball when the rebounder is on defense, so to get the fast break started quickly; and how to go back up strong when we’re on offense. And how to do it all while getting banged around inside.

These drills generally have a lot of contact, since that is what will happen in the game. Players need to be persistent and brush off the contact, to focus on getting to and controlling the ball.

Players need to remember to keep their head in the game – lots of contact often means someone loses their cool. A player who loses his temper effectively takes himself out of the game and is then of little help to the team - in fact, he is of more help to the opposition. Teach your players that contact is part of the game and needs to be worked with – and reinforce this by allowing controlled contact during these practice drills.

Keep them focused on the task at hand - post players must be able to tune out what is going on around them, so they are not distracted by contact or missed shots. Drive this home as they are running these basketball rebounding drills. Remember, in the post position, aggression and persistence will always win.